rich:messages is an extension for a standard h:messages component. In addition to what the
standard component provides, rich:messages:

does not require to be wrapped with a4j:outputPanel in order to be rendered during the
Ajax requests

allows to define different "failed" markers before the text labels

has a predefined css class names for different kinds of messages severities

The message markers is defined with facets. There are several facets names available
to design the marker for different kind of messages severities. The following example
shows how the markers might be used to mark the "passed" and "failed" form fields.
Fill the form and click the "Validate" button to see the entered data passing the
defined validation rules.